Main menu

Marco Andretti leads the way in practice as Chevrolet has a big day at Indianapolis

May 14, 2012

Marco Andretti posted the fastest speed of the month, 223.676 mph, at Indianapolis on Tuesday. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Andretti Autosport's Marco Andretti finished with the top speed on Tuesday during IndyCar practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after being third on Monday. His best lap was 223.676 mph, which is the fastest of the month so far.

Drafting again was a big factor as cars circled the IMS oval in groups. Straightaway speeds reached 230 mph for Hondas and Chevrolets.

Chevrolet dominated the top three spots on Tuesda,y with Helio Castroneves second at 222.025 mph and James Hinchcliffe third at 221.864 mph. Ryan Hunter-Reay was fifth at 221.814 mph, giving Chevrolet four of the first five. Graham Rahal was the one in the middle in a Honda; his lap was 221.855 mph.

Lotus made a big jump with Simona De Silvestro. After running 202 mph over the weekend, she posted a 210.315 mph early in the day. The Jean Alesi car, the other Lotus, did not go out on the track. De Silvestro still has a ways to go to be considered competitive since the next-closest driver in speed on Tuesday was Rubens Barrichello at 217.435 mph.

It wasn't the best of days for the KV Technology team. Tony Kanaan was 19th among the 30 cars on track and E.J. Viso was 26th. Barrichello was 29th.

There were no crashes.

There was quite a bit of hustle and bustle around the Dragon Racing garage, and word is that a few things still need to be wrapped up, and they might be soon. But there was no deal for engines as of 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Sébastien Bourdais and rookie Katherine Legge were in Gasoline Alley but not in cars. Perhaps they will be in cars in time for Wednesday's practice (noon to 6 p.m.).

After the session, Andretti and Rahal went to the media center for interviews. Their thoughts:

Marco Andretti: "I'm really pleased with where we are at with the race car so far. I have just been really working on the car in a pack, and just trying to stay flat in traffic. We have the car to the point now that I am confident to say we would be the ones to beat if the race was today. The speed on its own, I'm a little concerned about. I've said it before, I'll say it again, if we start 33rd we can still win this race." (About differences in handling between new car and older car): "Indy with the old cars, when you think you have those things so maxed out and perfected, you roll them off the next day …You'll see tomorrow. It might be a big challenge for me because that is Indianapolis for you in the month of May. You just have to be ready. It is like starting over tomorrow, and we're prepared for it. I'm not expecting to roll this car off tomorrow and set the world on fire. We just have to keep working like everybody else. The new car, it still has four wheels, man. It's still a race car. A lot of things are similar. The big thing has been working with Chevy, and it has been great. It has been a lot of fun. We've made great strides, and I am so proud of them with this little deficit we might have been up against. I don't think it is going to be a big deal, but we'll see."

Graham Rahal: "It was great for us, particularly coming off the last couple of days. We felt the car was good all along; we just couldn't figure out where the speed was. We put a new Honda engine in it last night, and boom. Pretty pleased with the car today. The Service Central guys have been working really hard, and we got to run with a bit of traffic in the end. It was incredibly hectic, but I don't know. Maybe a sign of things to come. We'll see what happens in the race. As Marco [Andretti] said, these things punch such a big hole. It's so easy to get a massive tow. I got behind [Alex] Tagliani for a few laps, and I just didn't have a gear big enough. We thought we were geared too long. For sure, they suck up quite a lot." (About running in packs): "To me, it was almost a little too much for a day like today. I got a good run put up there early, and I had a couple of more I could have put up there that would have been better than that, but there were a lot of bold moves out there, especially for a practice session, that's for sure. The other problem was, I jumped up there at the front of the line, and I'd lift to let everyone by and they'd all lift. What do you do? No one wanted to lead. I don't think there's an advantage to having a four-car or five-car team because everyone is running together. Everyone is out there. We ran with the Rahal Letterman guys, with [Simon] Pagenaud and the Schmidt guys. I don't think I ran with my teammates at all today. That's the main thing. Everyone is trying to work together to figure these cars out, but today was a little wild. That's what happens in happy hour. Everyone wants to go for it."